N55 TESTER STILL NEEDED

Ok, I am honestly slightly surprised we do not have people knocking down the door to get their car in as a tester. Our AT tester and I decided it best to go with someone else as I explained that we cannot guarantee his transmission or his engine for that matter can hold up to the new found power levels. This is all uncharted territory. The engine we are not so worried about, but the tranny could be an issue, but you never find these things out if you do not push.

Here is what we are looking for a late 2011 - early 2012 N55 AT, MT, or DCT. We have no real preference, what you get is this upgrade at parts cost ONLY, no labor, no tuning time, no dyno fees, you pay our cost for the parts and its yours to keep after we are done testing. Your car needs to at least have, DP upgrade, Intake, Charge pipe upgrade, if it does not we will give you our cost on those as well and install them at the same time. You will have to buy an AP or JB4 for the tuning but this is also something you keep after you are done. Cobb has told us they will be ready with the ATR when we are to get tuning. The upgrade is completed and sitting on the shelf as of yesterday waiting for a test car so we an fit the lines and get going. Once the car is here it will not sit around, installation will start the next day and we will get moving.

If anyone is interested, email me directly at Tony@vargasturbo.com. Look forward to speaking with you.

Note: There will be a waiver involved that will need to be signed that states we are not responsible for tranny, engine or any other drive train damage. This is just standard for any sort of testing, but I do not want it to come as a surprise.

If I sell my EVO before anyone volunteers I'll buy an N55 just to ship it to Tony LOL.

Dude I am in shock no one has stepped up, I was a little wary of the AT tester as he only wanted to speak on the phone and was very offended when I asked him to email me so I could continue working and answer when I got a break, then he didn't like the waiver. I think we will have someone soon.

I think even moreso than the warranty, there is just virtually no flash tuning options availbe for all but a VERY small group of 2011 cars. I would love to screw around with the BB flash, or a cobb flash stack, or BMS flash, but the support for our ECU's just aren't there. That's probably why a lot of guys are hesitant to do this - we just don't know if the support for tuning will actually be there. Cobb claims it will be ready, but they've been claiming that for two years.

I think even moreso than the warranty, there is just virtually no flash tuning options availbe for all but a VERY small group of 2011 cars. I would love to screw around with the BB flash, or a cobb flash stack, or BMS flash, but the support for our ECU's just aren't there. That's probably why a lot of guys are hesitant to do this - we just don't know if the support for tuning will actually be there. Cobb claims it will be ready, but they've been claiming that for two years.

Actually, Cobb let me know this week as soon as we are ready they will be giving us the Beta N55 ATR so we can get tuning. See there is information here you do not have, yet you are talking like you have it all. And why would a warranty come into play? You cannot tell the turbo has been swapped, unless they decide to pull the inlet off the turbo and get down there with a mirror and a flashlight unless they really start digging, that is one of the reasons we did it this way. Flash the car back to stock and get it serviced, done.

Originally Posted by Group.america

Agh, the real pioneers were the ones with the arrows in their back... if you are expecting a lot of business BUY YOUR OWN TEST CAR.............. problem solved... invest in your own IP

We just bought an N54 test car for the shop, the idea of buying an N55 test car for this upgrade is not something we even would consider right now. We are not worried about it, someone will step up soon. I will say this is TYPICAL "Enthusiast" behavior though. Cry and make noise about how bad you want a turbo upgrade and can't wait for it, hurry hurry hurry, any updates, hurry hurry hurry, any updates. Ok its done, lets get a tester, oh well I mean we just wanted to see it, you mean we actually need to do something. Nah we can't deal with that, buy your own test car.

I'm "talking like I have it all?" Please, I'm simply explaining to you why your test market is so limited. Literally the only people who can do this are people from a single model year (2011), in a single geographic area (CA), that have their N55 as a secondary car, that can be without it for three weeks (let's be real, it will be longer than that), and that have enough money to not care if something goes wrong from a non-existent tuning solution. Not sure why it's a newsflash, but there aren't too many people out there like that.

Originally Posted by VargasTurboTech

Actually, Cobb let me know this week as soon as we are ready they will be giving us the Beta N55 ATR so we can get tuning. See there is information here you do not have, yet you are talking like you have it all.

Yeah, that's great. Cobb has been telling us support for the N55 has been "almost done" for a year. How about you tell them you're ready right now and see if they send it? Let me know how that goes for you

I will say this is TYPICAL "Enthusiast" behavior though. Cry and make noise about how bad you want a turbo upgrade and can't wait for it, hurry hurry hurry, any updates, hurry hurry hurry, any updates. Ok its done, lets get a tester, oh well I mean we just wanted to see it, you mean we actually need to do something. Nah we can't deal with that, buy your own test car.

You either have a business case for developing a N55 turbo or you don't. If you don't, it wasn't very smart of you to begin development. If you do, it isn't very smart of you to insult your customers. I run a business and wouldn't dream of saying something like that, even if it was true (which it very well may be in this case). That's just customer relations 101. Either way.......

I'm "talking like I have it all?" Please, I'm simply explaining to you why your test market is so limited. Literally the only people who can do this are people from a single model year (2011), in a single geographic area (CA), that have their N55 as a secondary car, that can be without it for three weeks (let's be real, it will be longer than that), and that have enough money to not care if something goes wrong from a non-existent tuning solution. Not sure why it's a newsflash, but there aren't too many people out there like that.

Yeah, that's great. Cobb has been telling us support for the N55 has been "almost done" for a year. How about you tell them you're ready right now and see if they send it? Let me know how that goes for you

You either have a business case for developing a N55 turbo or you don't. If you don't, it wasn't very smart of you to begin development. If you do, it isn't very smart of you to insult your customers. I run a business and wouldn't dream of saying something like that, even if it was true (which it very well may be in this case). That's just customer relations 101. Either way.......

Seriously, I really hope you find a tester car soon and am super excited to see what you are bringing to the platform. RB is not an option for me as I prefer a hybrid setup. My points above are not a reflection on your work, it's just a lot of external factors that are conspiring against you at the moment. But if Cobb is telling the truth, hopefully you will be able to open the testing up to more than 2011 cars and find a tester very shortly.

A lot of the 335i crowd I encountered in my travels are leasing, well actually most. They're not afraid to do the basic bolton modifications since it's easy to go back to stock so the power mods that bring out more work and more money they tend to shy away from it understandably.

For those that own them, I have no idea what the hell they're waiting for. The "I'm waiting for my warranty to run out" makes as much sense to me as a cock flavored lolly pop. Especially when talking about turbo upgrades, if your engine does fail will BMW replace it under warranty? I've read about 1 guy on e90 how he was driving home one day in his unmodified car and it blew the engine. Took it to BMW and they told him of an "event" that ocurred where the car was down shifted at a very high rpm which damaged the engine and made it explode few miles after. Not covered by the warranty. So yeah the only thing you're assuring when you're waiting for the warranty to expire is that your cars engine components life will be cut by about a third or more.

I think Vargas is very smart here, First the N55 crowd is going to keep getting bigger,second its a Hybrid, and third they will be ahead of the competition... I for one will never own an N54 again, the N55 is WAY more reliable and the tuning is just going to get Better! Go Vargas!!!

I think Vargas is very smart here, First the N55 crowd is going to keep getting bigger,second its a Hybrid, and third they will be ahead of the competition... I for one will never own an N54 again, the N55 is WAY more reliable and the tuning is just going to get Better! Go Vargas!!!

Tester issue is solved. Jeff at BMS is just going to ship us his car. It's a win win for everyone. Terry already bought an upgrade, we will install it for him, develop the lines, verify diverter valve function etc. Then drive the car back down to terry and let them test avd tune it. Once we gets the lines and all that done we can start shipping to the pre-orders and other tuning methods, Cobb vishu etc can be utilized. Thanks to Terry and Jeff at BMS. This is by far the best solution for the test car.